Mayor casts tie breaking vote
By Lindy J. Gwinn, Mountain Valley News staff
Two weeks ago the Town of Paonia held a hearing for public comment on the proposed Bear Ranch Land Exchange. So many people came to that hearing that the originally scheduled location had to be moved to a larger facility just minutes before the hearing.
At the regular meeting of the Paonia Town Council on Jan. 26, Mayor Neal Schweiterman prefaced the discussion about a potential letter of opposition by outlining the process the council had followed to get to the point of putting the item on the agenda for a decision.
“We are not going to take public comment tonight but the council will be discussing this after reviewing the comments we received two weeks ago and the letter and emails we have received since then,” he said
Schweiterman then said, “I’ve gone out of my way the last five years since I have been mayor to try to keep peace in this town. That is not an easy thing to do. There is no mandate to write this letter, and there is a strong possibility that if we take a stand on this issue we will alienate many people in our community.”
Councilman Sid Lewis jumped in at that point and said, “Well I do have an opinion against this proposal for the reasons stated in the public hearing. There were nine proponents, and out of those nine, four of the people were employees of Bill Koch. There were 28 people opposing the land swap. I am uncomfortable with this. Mr. Koch wants us to believe that he is a good neighbor but the land he wants to give us is in Utah and at Blue Mesa, and not anywhere near us.”
Lewis also told the council and attendees that the land was not being given to the people that it was being given to the National Forest Service.
Lewis orated for more than 30 minutes about his reasons for opposition. He talked about the accesses and trails and how Mr. Koch is responsible for making people aware of what a great place the land is that he wants in exchange for his acquisitions in Utah and Blue Mesa.
“Koch has cameras all over that place and so you just have to assume if you go up there you are getting your picture taken. If he doesn’t like the trespassing on his land, he has enough money to put fence and cameras all over the place and keep people out,” said Lewis.
Councilman Dave Weber followed Lewis in comment.
“I have been following this for about six months. Twenty people have talked to me about this and it’s 19 to 1 those who oppose this. My constituents don’t want this and it’s also not my ideology to support it. There is no benefit to Paonia. The letter that Tom Chapman wrote in a local newspaper really opened my eyes to what is going on. The fact that this was never supposed to be a public process really bothers me. They were trying to do this behind closed doors and not let us know anything about this,” said Weber.
With that, Weber made the motion to write the letter of opposition. Rob Gill who is the Ranch Manager for Bear Ranch said in a later interview, “Because the proposal includes two parcels in two different states that have impacts to two federal agencies, Department of Interior and State, this has to go through the legislative process.
“You have to understand the whole history of this proposal. When this started, all the lands were in Gunnison County. We went to Gunnison County, Delta County and the Town of Paonia a year and a half ago. Delta County and Paonia told us they were not going to get involved and make decisions on what was happening in Gunnison County. When we went to Gunnison County they told us we needed to get input from Delta County. Now we have come full circle and are meeting with people in Delta County and multiple groups in both counties. There will be a hearing process should this bill be introduced by legislators.
Councilman Brian Ayers said, “I have concerns about losing the access to the Raggeds. I am not opposed to the land swap but I am opposed to losing that access.”
Corrine Ferguson also a Council member said, “My concern is taking a position on this as a council when it has nothing to do with the health of this town.”
Lewis jumped in again to refute Ferguson. “This does affect the health of our coal miners and their families because it brings them sincere peace of mind to be able to recreate with their families on this land.”
The Mayor called for the vote, and Lewis and Weber voted to write the letter of opposition while Ferguson and Ayres voted against the motion, leaving the tie-breaking vote to the Mayor.
“I am going to vote against writing the letter,” said Schweiterman.
Gill in the later interview said, “I was really surprised and extremely proud of Mayor Schweiterman for taking that stance on the issue because it had to be very difficult for him.”
Gill said that the Bear Ranch people are continuing to work with stakeholders to find the best project for everyone involved and that he hopes to have draft legislation to submit sometime during the first quarter of 2012.
